


tell me, what do you wish for?

by Anonymous



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Madoka Magica, Alternate Universe - Magical Girls, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Bakugou Katsuki is Bad at Feelings, Crossover, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-08 22:46:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13468164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Izuku has always wanted to help others. When he sees a new route open itself up for him to do just that, he makes up his mind to take it, wherever it might lead. What he soon realizes is this: to save someone, there are often times that someone else must be lost.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> wow, a multichapter fic! i'm pursuing something new with this, and i hope you all enjoy it. this won't be a very happy fic, but i promise that it will have a happy ending after all the suffering. this is being posted at almost 7am. i haven't slept. we die for our art.
> 
> the start's a little slow, and i am _so_ sorry. i had to set that fuckening scene and convey what needed conveying before i could proceed. i feel as though i neglect to describe the scene in my writing, so i hope to remedy that going forward!
> 
> again, i hope you enjoy what i'm trying to do here!! thanks so much for the support on my previous fics, you all are lovely. ♥♥♥

Izuku felt like he had walked directly into a fever dream that he wanted to wake up from more than anything else.

The stale concrete walls around him had ceased to exist, birthing the path for a perfectly shaped dome. He could see no way out around him, only soft pink walls, argyle patterned and rough-looking. Coral, bits that looked like they had been formed from papier-mâché, marched around the circumference of the room. If he looked a bit closer at them, he could make out the faint print of different expressions on them, ranging from a simple smiley face to an almost grotesque depiction of fury. His hands splayed against the wall behind him, feeling its surface with his fingertips. It was cold, yet it felt as though it burned him to touch. He pulled away from the patterned wall to take a few steps further into the room. There was the distant sound of music all around him, invading his senses, a music box melody accentuated with the rhythm of a tambourine. He could feel each hit of the tambourine reverberate in his bones, shaking him to the core.

As he stepped closer to the center of the room, a feeling of dread began to overtake him. His stomach tied itself into knots, leaving him feeling impossibly ill. Even so, he proceeded. Something drove him closer to the middle, an invisible pull that had taken hold of him. Just as he had nearly reached the center, there was a thunderous quaking that nearly brought him to his knees with its force.

“Damn,” Izuku muttered, his tone incredulous. Stranger still, the ground beneath him continued to rumble. He took a step back just as the floor began to part beneath him. Unwilling to turn his back to whatever lie beneath, he backed up, nearly tripping over himself in the process. A grand orchestra picked up, overpowering the gentle strain of the music box that had wormed its way into his mind.

From under the open panel in the floor, something began to rise. His heart thrummed in his chest, and he could feel it threatening to leap into his throat. Just as he could see the top of something from under the floor, it shot into the air. He lost sight of it for a moment, as it reached impossible heights. The roof of the dome had looked low to the ground, but now he saw that it spanned stories high.

Izuku saw the thing begin to hurtle towards the floor again, the open portion of which was now beginning to close. This time, he turned his back to it, taking off in the opposite direction to avoid the impact.

Despite falling at such a high speed, the thing landed softly on the ground, not making a single sound as it touched down on the ground. The orchestra had begun to play a softer tune now, though it did nothing to ease the fear that Izuku was feeling.

Finally, he turned to face the mysterious object, and when he did, he saw that it may not be an object at all.

In fact, it appeared to be alive.

The creature was nearly beyond description, overwhelming to look at, and even more overwhelming to stand in the presence of.

It had a rounded, dusty pink head with what appeared to be external gills flaring off of the side. The frills upon the gills looked to be arms, waving back and forth to the will of an invisible current. There was a dark, gaping void where its face should have been, and it sent a chill up his spine to look at it. Something like a scarf was around its neck, and his eyes trailed down from there to the rest of its body, which almost resembled that of a snake. It was formed of coils, striped pink and green. Unlike a snake, though, it had arms- spindly black ones, with hands that had claws upon their fingertips.

“Oh my god,” Izuku breathed, whelmed by the size of the creature before him. It occurred to him then that he should hide, but it was much too late for that; he had already been spotted. One of the arms reached towards him, fingers spread out as if to grab him, and he ran. There was nowhere for him to go, of course, but his instincts told him to run away, and so, he did.

A hand slammed down in the middle of his path, and Izuku came to a skidding halt. He glanced over at the creature, almost afraid to look at it again, and saw that it had sprouted more arms, all of an impossible size. Another one came down behind him, blocking off his path backwards. The only way to go was off to the side, closer to the monster. He almost worked up the determination to go, but another hand began to approach, and he could see the monster’s coils unraveling as it prepared to come closer to him. 

Izuku did the only thing that he could think to do as the hand threatened to come down on him: he cowered.

Just as he resigned himself to his fate, there came a loud yell from across the room, then a sound like an ax through bone. He heard a thud, and in a moment where his fear was overcome by curiosity, he moved his hands away from his face to look at what had happened.

First, he saw that the arm that had been reaching for him now lay on the ground, detached from the monster altogether.

A bit later than he would have expected, a horrible shrieking filled the air. He saw the monster thrashing, but saw no reason for it, until he caught a glimpse of a boy in dark blue with a sword in hand jumping much higher than any person should be able to. Then, even more surprising, the boy jumped again midair, this time to launch himself down towards the monster.

“Be careful!” Izuku shouted. Though he did not know the boy fighting for him, he feared for his life all the same.

Izuku pressed himself to the wall, still wary of the other arms beside him, which were still, despite being attached to the writhing creature.

In a moment that passed by as soon as it had come, he saw the boy reach out with the sword in hand, and with the force of his jump, he drove it through the monster’s head.

Izuku’s eyes widened as he watched the sword pierce through one end and come out the other, somewhere near the chin of its void of a face.

The marching coral around him began to wither up, turning to ash and disappearing into nothing. Gaps began to open in the wall as the argyle paper peeled away, a glimpse at the comfortingly familiar concrete that he had seen before all of this happened.

The monster began to turn to ash as well, and just as he pressed his hand to the cool concrete hiding beneath the paper, the entire illusion began to fall apart around him. It crumbled away, and outside of it, there was the underpass that he had started out in.

Izuku teared up, overjoyed to be out of that cursed place. He turned to look at the boy, to thank him, and saw him picking up something from the ground. Upon looking at him a bit closer, he realized that he knew him. His name was Todoroki Shouto, and really, it was a wonder that he had not recognized him sooner. While he did not mean it in a bad way, Todoroki simply looked very recognizable, for a lot of reasons.

“Thank you,” he said, taking a step closer to him.

“Yeah,” Todoroki replied, seeming uninterested. He brushed some ash off of his pleated skirt and gave a sigh.

“What was that?” Izuku asked.

“A witch,” the other boy answered, beginning to walk off out of the underpass.

“A w- hey!” Izuku chased after him, determined to get the answers he was seeking. Todoroki turned to face him again, just as he asked, “What’s a witch?”

“...a witch,” Todoroki said, “It doesn’t concern you. Go home.”

Izuku furrowed his brow, hoping his next question would get a more direct response. “What are _you_?”

“A magical boy,” he replied, something almost sad appearing in his expression, “That’s all you need to know. Go _home_.”

Izuku was silent for a moment, and Todoroki seemed to think that the conversation was over. He started off in the direction he had been going before, only to pause once more when he heard Izuku’s next question.

“Can I be one? A magical boy, I mean.” Izuku would be satisfied, if only he knew the answer to his last question.

Todoroki did not look at him when he spoke again. His voice was solemn, a warning of something much darker, when he said, “You don’t want to be.”

When Izuku said nothing more, Todoroki took a running start, presumably to avoid being troubled with any more questions.

Izuku sat in the underpass until the sky began to grow dark. When he finally stood, it was with new determination to go forward.

If being a magical boy meant saving someone, then that was what he wanted to be.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku makes his wish, and receives a warning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> back at it again with chapter two!!! thanks for the comments and support on the first chapter, i love you all!!

As he sat alone in the silence of his room, Izuku could hear the faint sound of a void in his head, repeating the same thing over and over.

‘You don’t want to be,’ Todoroki had said, and it seemed as though he had meant it. Perhaps he tired of the risks that he had to take, the ones that came with being a magical boy and seeking to defend the lives of others, but Izuku thought that more than anything, that was what he wanted to do. Risks were part of being a hero, after all, and that had always been his grandest desire.

Of course, a part of him thought that it did all sound a bit too good to be true. Maybe it was not for everyone, but in his opinion, there would be no greater satisfaction than saving someone else from the line of danger. What was the tradeoff for being granted such power? There had to be one, because no great things came without a bit of trouble here and there. Nothing was ever as simple as it first appeared to be, even if that was sometimes a positive. 

Izuku was certain this was what he wanted. He had seen what he would face as a result of his choices, and he was ready to take it on again. Next time, he thought, he would not be caught unprepared. Next time, he would be the one rescuing, not the one being rescued.

With that thought in mind, he rolled over in bed to click off his bedside lamp. As he did, he caught sight of something in the window. Izuku jumped, bolting upright to get a better look at it. The creature sat almost ominously still, other than the back-and-forth wave of its thick tail. For a moment, he thought it to be a cat, but it had long pieces poking from its ears, and an emotionless, dull gaze.

Izuku silently slipped out of bed, feeling the cold floor against his bare feet and giving a shudder. He approached the window at a steady pace, so as to not scare the creature away. Even so, it seemed to be quite undisturbed by his treading; it simply sat there, staring at him, its tail never ceasing its rhythmic sway.

His breath held, burning in his chest, Izuku opened the window. The creature did not hesitate before hopping into his room, landing so lightly that he did not hear it at all.

“Hello,” it spoke, and Izuku jumped at the sound of another voice in his room. His eyes darted around, before landing on the cat-like being.

“You didn’t say that, did you?” he asked, kneeling down in front of it. Izuku held out his hand, attempting to beckon it closer.

“I did,” the creature said, its mouth unmoving.

Izuku wondered, again, if he was dreaming. But he had seen stranger things than a talking alien cat by now, so he supposed that this was nothing that he could not handle.  
“Who are you?” Izuku asked, drawing his hand back to himself again. He was hesitant to touch the creature, lest it attack him. Or, perhaps worse, vanish into nothing at his prodding, confirming that he was losing it.

“Kyuubey,” it replied, “I’m here to make your contract.”

“Contract?” Izuku echoed, leaning forward so he was on his hands and knees, “What kind of contract?”

“You want to be a magical boy, don’t you?”

Izuku’s breath caught, before he nodded, not seeming to hesitate too much in his next response. “Yes, I do,” he answered.

“Then you have to make a contract with me. I will grant you one wish, and in exchange, you will fight witches,” Kyuubey explained, and all while Izuku nodded as if he truly _understood_ what he was hearing.

“I get a wish?” Izuku asked, his brow furrowing as he began to think over what he could wish for. “Can I wish for… anything?”

“Almost anything,” he said.

“Wow,” he breathed. He had no idea that he would be given anything other than the joy of saving others if he were to become a magical boy. Then again, though, he supposed that, before now, he didn’t particularly know much about becoming a magical boy in the first place. He had no idea what he assumed the process was, now that he thought about it.

“I will come to you again later on, if you need time to think over your wish,” Kyuubey told him.

“No, I think…” Izuku stood, staring at his reflection in the mirror on the closet, then announced, “I think I know.”

There was no change in Kyuubey’s expression or tone when he asked, “Do you?”

“Yeah,” Izuku replied, meeting his own gaze before it drifted down to Kyuubey.

“Tell me, Izuku Midoriya, what do you wish for?”

After taking a deep breath, he spoke again, “I want to be someone who saves others at any cost. I want to be a hero. Can you grant that wish?”

“Yes,” Kyuubey replied.

All at once, Izuku was surrounded in a glowing light, brighter than any he had ever seen before. It was blinding; he could see nothing but light, wherever he looked. The light grew even brighter, and for a moment, he felt very naked.

The light flickered, then flared out in every direction before it disappeared. As he looked around, his vision slowly returning after such brightness, he could see light still flickering in pieces on his bedroom floor and walls, something like sparks.

And it was over, as soon as it had begun. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, then found himself stumbling towards it.

His comfortable pajamas had vanished, replaced with something that was nothing short of a costume.

Izuku wore a teal, cropped jacket, with holes cut out from the shoulders. Beneath the holes, he could see the white tops of his sleeves, which led down to his chest into a sweetheart neckline. It was a bit too low for his taste, but he was a bit too dazed to linger on it for long.

“Hm,” he hummed, his eyes trailing down to the ruffly teal skirt and white thigh highs that he wore. His fingers touched to the red bow holding the high collar of the jacket together, and glanced down at his red mary-janes, then said, “I don’t like it...”

“Well, you can’t change it,” Kyuubey said, and Izuku jumped as he was suddenly reminded that he was there.

“I can’t?” Izuku sounded disappointed, and he turned around to face Kyuubey again. “Well, I suppose I didn’t wish for an outfit that I would like. I wished to be a hero.”

“You did,” he affirmed.

“Then I’m going to go out and fight a witch!” Izuku exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air. He walked towards the door, then turned back to Kyuubey before he opened it. “Thank you,” he said with a slight bow.

Kyuubey said nothing, and Izuku took that as his cue to leave. He took off out the door, then slowed down to peer around the wall and make sure his mother was not in the living room or kitchen. When he saw that the coast was clear, he practically ran out the front door. He hoped that his mom wouldn’t wake up in the middle of the night and decide to check on him; lest she worry about him.

Izuku was certain that he would be fine, though. He was equipped to fight witches now after all, wasn’t he?

\---

The city was quiet at night. Izuku got a few strange glances from passersby, but he proceeded on undeterred. This was the night he would live out a dream or two, after all, and he would not be stopped by something as minor as a couple of odd looks.

As Izuku walked deeper into the city, he realized that he didn’t actually _know_ how to find a witch. The first one he had encountered, he simply wandered into the maze and walked around in confusion until he found the witch, all without trying. It seemed like it would be much more difficult to find something that he was _looking_ for.

“Geez,” Izuku mumbled, “It’s like there’s not a single witch in this whole city.”

He glanced down every alleyway and crevice that he could, searching every last space for the beginning to a maze, until he saw something that looked like a glowing crackle in the wall. Izuku stopped dead in his tracks, turning completely to face it. He approached it in silence, until he was close enough to touch it.

“I don’t remember seeing this before,” he said to himself, reaching out to touch it. There was something embedded in the wall, something that he could not identify. No, actually, was it like the thing Todoroki had picked up from the floor after defeating the witch? He hadn’t gotten a good look at it.

All at once, the object dissipated, fading into the wall. Izuku tried to reach after it, but his hands only hit the solid wall. Maybe he was wrong about what this was. He gave a sigh, about to turn away, before there was a glow in his hand and he saw a shiny, rippling space begin to open in the wall.

“Ah!” he exclaimed, forcing his hand through it without hesitation. It disappeared through the portal, leaving stronger ripples in its wake. The other side was cold.

Izuku made up his mind then to follow through, and walked in through the portal.

On the other side, there was nothing but pitch darkness. Izuku blinked, looking behind him to the portal, still rippling where he had passed through it. He took a step forward into the blackness.

Suddenly, the darkness was no more, as a line of sconces on either sit of the wall lit up with flames. The flames moved strangely, in a distorted fashion, almost like they were stop-motion. With curiosity, he reached towards the one closest to him. The fire moved away from him as he got closer, leaning away unnaturally. Izuku’s brow furrowed, but he pulled his hand away and decided to press on.

Izuku walked forward, and whenever he entered darkness again, another line of sconces lit up to guide his way. He could see skulls and other bones littering the floor, but when he paused to nudge one with his foot, it exploded into black glitter. Feeling confident that it was not actual human bones, he continued on. 

The walls were dark grey, almost looking like grey paint over a textured canvas. He dragged his hand along it as he walked, and saw that wherever he touched, the paint peeled back to reveal more black glitter.

How strange.

Izuku glanced up when the dim place became brighter, and he saw that there was a swinging chandelier above him. He could see slowly descending upon him, and he took a step back to give it room.

Once it touched down to the floor, glass pieces shattering on contact with the ground, he decided that he was meant to hold on to it. Izuku stepped onto the center of the chandelier, holding onto the chain that attached it to the ceiling. On cue, it began to ascend again, carrying him with it.

Once he reached the top, he stepped off into another black void. He could hear the faint sound of music, something played on an organ. He followed the noise, until he walked into a solid surface again.

He grunted, stepping back a bit. Izuku felt around on the wall, until he found a doorknob. He gave a sigh of relief and turned it, then stepped into the room behind the door.

Inside, he saw a large egg in the half-light.

“Really?” he thought aloud, “An egg?” His eyes drifted around the room, seeing more grey walls with peeling paint and black glitter behind it. There were things lying around the room, more bones and a few massive books. 

Izuku jumped when there was a loud cracking, and his gaze returned back to the egg. All at once, a hand thrust itself out from the shell, reaching skyward and sending bits flying everywhere. The hand was blurry, almost like a shadow. 

With a determined look, Izuku poised himself to fight.

It was then that he realized he didn’t know how to summon a weapon. He didn’t even know what his weapon _would be_.

Panic overtook him as he scrambled through his head for answers, and he found none. The egg was continuing to break, giving way to the rest of the witch.  
Izuku saw it, and he remembered why he was scared of the first witch he witnessed.

The bones had animated themselves, and skeleton hands began to pull at his ankles. With a yelp, he shook them off, and realized his mistake immediately. The witch turned its attention to him, its bird head twisting all the way backwards to face him. He shuddered, looking into its dead, black eyes. When he looked a bit more intently, he saw that its eyes sparkled, just like the tears in the walls.

Izuku took off to the side as it began to crawl towards him, carried by eight dark limbs. They moved through each other, as if they really were just shadows. He looked around for something he could use as a weapon, and found nothing.

“Dammit!” he shouted, wondering just what he had come in here expecting to do, if not be killed in the process of trying to win.

Izuku ran towards where the door had been, feeling around it and hoping it would open if he pushed hard enough. 

When it didn’t give way, he slumped against it. He was no more prepared for a fight than he had been when he was caught unaware before. His mom would never know what happened to him. Maybe she’d spend the rest of her life searching.

Something slammed into the door behind him, and he scrambled away from it, just for it to open to reveal someone else.

“Todoroki!” he shouted, feeling his heart grow light again. He was a bit disappointed in himself, though; would he always rely upon Todoroki to save him?

“You idiot,” Todoroki hissed, grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him to his feet, “What were you thinking, coming here?! You don’t know what you’re doing!”

“I know, I just-” Izuku trailed off, his gaze dropping down in shame, before he looked up again. “How do I summon my weapon?” he asked.

“You just summon it, I don’t know,” Todoroki replied, his stare locked on the witch. Izuku could see his eyes darting around, trying to determine its weakest point.

 

“I just _do it_? That doesn’t help!” Izuku yelled, his voice breaking at the end when Todoroki yanked him away from the door. Just as he did, a massive orb of black glitter slammed into where they had been standing. It exploded into nothing, but Izuku could tell the force behind it was massive.

“You just summon it! Either fight with me or don’t, but don’t get yourself killed in the process,” Todoroki shouted back.

Izuku held out his hand, jerking the other one away from Todoroki to see if he could manage to summon the weapon he needed so desperately. He closed his eyes for a moment, focusing all his thoughts into it, and he felt something begin to materialize in his hand. He opened his eyes, immediately looking to Todoroki. “I’m doing it!” he exclaimed.

Todoroki looked as though he was about to say something, but he jumped in front of Izuku instead, holding out his sword and letting another orb fall into it from above. This one exploded, too, but this time Izuku could feel the glittery substance on his skin. 

And it _burned_.

Izuku nearly jerked to brush it all off, but his weapon materialized all the way into his hand. 

He stared at it. It was a bow, with no arrows.

“What do I do with this?!” Izuku shouted to Todoroki, who had disappeared to the other side of the room to keep the witch’s attention on him. He was so fast, and Izuku wondered if he could do that, too.

First, though, he needed to figure out what to do with the bow.

Izuku held it up, pulling the string back. He closed his eyes again, imagining an arrow in place of the empty air. He felt heat form near his hand, and opened his eyes to see light form in the shape of an arrow.

“Yes!” He pulled the string further back, aiming at the witch. It moved so fast, how was he supposed to land a hit on it? Even Todoroki was struggling; he had managed to slice off one of the shadow arms, which was now writhing on the floor independent of the body, but the loss of one arm was a small thing when one had eight.

Izuku decided that he had to take a shot.

He took a deep breath, and more light began to form around the arrow, swirling around it more rapidly each time he thought about letting it go. Finally, he shouted, “Watch out!”

And he let the arrow fly.

Izuku watched it soar, and pierce straight through the body of the witch. He saw light trailing after it like a comet, and white dust fell in its wake. 

He held his breath as he waited to see what would happen. The witch collapsed, beak parting in a silent scream. Todoroki stepped back from it, both of them watching as black, oil-like fluid began to spill from its mouth.

It started to dissolve into black dust, still sparkling. The labyrinth began to waver out of existence around them, and when he looked at Todoroki again, he was in his school uniform instead of the regal outfit he was wearing before.

The boy approached Izuku, his expression blank despite the other’s beaming.

“Did you see that?! I got it! One hit, I got it!”

“I saw,” Todoroki replied. He picked up the object that Izuku had seen before from the floor, and held it out to him. “It’s yours,” he said.

“What do I do with it?” Izuku asked, taking it and turning it over in his hands.

“I’ll tell you later. For now, there’s something you need to know.”

“What is it?”

Todoroki stared at him for a long time. He looked at the gem on Izuku’s shoulder, then looked at his face, and finally, glanced away and sighed. “It’s just… this isn’t our territory. Someone else fights here, and you shouldn’t be caught around here when there’s a witch,” he said, and Izuku got the distinct feeling that wasn’t what he wanted to say.

“Then why did you come here?” Izuku asked.

“I had a feeling you would be here,” Todoroki replied, “and that you wouldn’t be safe on your own.”

“Oh,” he said. Then, he added, “Thank you, Todoroki. I wouldn’t have made it out of there without your help.”

Todoroki paused, eyes going wide, then he shrugged. “It wouldn’t be right of me to let you die,” he replied.

Izuku laughed lightly, awkwardly, then turned away. “Who is it that fights here?”

“You’ll know when you see him,” Todoroki replied, walking past him, in the direction that Izuku assumed was his home.

“Will I?” Izuku asked.

“Oh, you will,” Todoroki answered, before continuing on his way.

Izuku turned towards where his home was, looking into the distance. After a long moment, he wondered aloud, “How do I get my pajamas back?”

**Author's Note:**

> LIKE COMMENT AND SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE GARBAGE


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